


crown jewels

by moegan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ben Solo x Rey - Freeform, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren - Freeform, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Funny, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren x Rey - Freeform, Misunderstood, Princess Diaries AU, Slow Burn, armitage hux is a real jerk but kylo/ben puts him in his place a lot and it's entertaining, finn is everybody's friend, hopefully i can do both sides of the coin some justice, poe is a frat boy who is also very smart, rey is intelligent but invisible, reylo au, the usual when talking bout ben and rey, tortured childhood, with everyone in college, you know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-02-26 07:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13231392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moegan/pseuds/moegan
Summary: Rey finds out she's a princess. Turns out she's not a great one.





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m a  _what_?!” **  
**

“A princess, darling,” the stranger also known as her grandmother says from across the room. She sips her tea delicately from the small china cup that Rey swears is the only one her mother owns. “The princess of Naboo.”

“That’s a dumb name,” Rey snorts, toying with a lock of her hair. Her mother turns and smacks her daughter in the stomach, earning a grunt and a glare from the young girl. She seethes when she speaks, “Mind your manners, Rey.”

“Dumb or not, you are the princess of it,” Queen Organa grins, her dark eyes mischievous. “And I’m here to take you home.”

Rey rolls her eyes immediately, “I  _am_ home, lady. Here, with my mom, and my friends. I’m not leaving just because you showed up here to tell me that I’m going to sell myself to some nobility to keep up old practices that have long gone out of age.”

Queen Organa’s eyebrows lift and Rey gets another punch to the gut from her mother. This time, she doesn’t back down and instead only fires up further, “What?! It’s the truth! I’m in my sophomore year of college and I can’t just up and leave because someone I don’t even know asks me to.”

“You can continue your studies at the Naboo Institute if you like, I’m sure we can have all of your current credits transferred with no issues,” Ms. Organa speaks calmly, as if she’s handled many unruly teenagers before. Of course, if she really is a Queen, Rey is sure she’s dealt with far worse than her attitude.

“That’s not the point,” Rey argues, the breath puffing out of her mouth uncerimonously. She sighs, “I don’t want to uproot my life because my father - my  _dead_ father, mind you - left a country to me.”

Rey throws her hands up in desperation, “I didn’t  _ask_ for this!”

“No one ever does, my dear,” Queen Organa drawls affectionately. She chuckles and sits up, placing her empty tea cup on the counter. “The duty of royalty far outweighs the desires of one’s heart.”

“Well, I just learned I was royalty,” Rey scoffs, “so forgive me if I have a broader learning curve.”

-

“You’re a  _what_?!”

“That’s  _exactly_ what I said!”

Rey rolls her eyes at her friend, mocking Queen Organa’s voice as she continues, “ _A princess, darling_.” She huffs, “As if her being cordial makes me want to go with her.”

Finn sighs, tightening his arm around Rey’s shoulders, “Well, hey, perks to living in a  _palace_ \- it’s a palace! Rey, I know you’re usually an optimist, why is this such an awful thing?” They turn the corner to watch as their favorite coffee shop comes into view. “You get to meet princes, and princesses,” he dips his head and winks, “and you get to have a voice that matters and you can eat chocolate at one in the morning and suddenly it’ll become a tradition.”

“You’re missing the point, Finn,” she groans, leaning her head into his pectoral, “I don’t  _want_ this. I don’t want my father’s legacy. I don’t even know the man.”

Finn sighs, and right before they can step into the doors of Bean There Done That Cafe, he squares her up in front of him with his hands on her shoulders, “It will always be your choice, whether to go or to stay. But, while the Queen of Naboo is here, I think you should indulge her a little.”

Rey scoffs and begins a fiery retort, but Finn stops her with a finger to her lips, “Look, I’m all about rebellion, just as much as the next guy, but you’ve always wanted to have a voice.” Finn looks around, forcing Rey to follow his gaze, “This town doesn’t offer you that. It doesn’t even offer you attention. You hide here, Rey. You’ve never felt like you belonged.”

Her eyes grow sad, a darkness overtaking the hazel. Finn pulls her chin toward him, kissing her forehead, “Who knows, maybe you belong in Naboo.”

She shoves him away from her in a playful way, darting into the coffee shop doors, “Stop being so overdramatic, you jerk. You almost had me for a second. Belonging and loneliness and a voice. You really should make it into Julliard.”

They order their usual drinks and sit down at their usual table, but don’t talk about their usual topics. They discuss fluffy dresses and tea cakes and butlers. They talk of etiquette classes and delicate fans and dancing. They talk of princes and princesses and servants.

“And you don’t even have to go to work!” Finn shouts.

Rey admonishes him, but giggles anyways at his facial expression, “I will have to work, just not at McDonald’s or that nasty seafood restaurant.”

“So you’re going?” he raises a brow, leaning in closer to her.

She rolls her eyes, “I’m definitely not decided yet. Queen Organa offered to give me lessons at her lakehouse just outside of town. I figured I’d start there.”

Finn sits back in his booth seat comfortably, crossing his arms with a smug expression painted on his face.

Rey holds out a waggling finger at him, narrowing her eyes, “Don’t you do that.”

“Do what?” he asks, his voice faux-innocent. His smirk grows, “Princess Rey of Naboo. I like it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey needs to get out more, Finn decides. Especially since she won't get out of the country.

“So,” Rey asks as she loudly sips her tea, “how come I never knew you were my grandma?”

 

Queen Organa winces at the brash behavior of her supposed granddaughter. She chuckles at the question despite the loud action, “You know how you have aunts and cousins who aren’t really your cousins?”

 

“Um, I guess?” Rey responds, placing the tea cup down. She picks up a small pastry and begins to eat it as she waits for an explanation. 

 

“Well,” Queen Organa sits forward in her chair. Rey notices that the four guards posted around the garden shift with her. “Your father, as you now know, was in a lineage of royalty. The royalty of Naboo.” Rey continues eating, trying her hardest to seem disinterested. Queen Organa continues anyway. 

 

“Your grandfather was very close to my father, Rey,” Queen Organa’s voice becomes more serious with every word, “My father’s name is Anakin. The late king of Tatooine.”

 

Something clicks in Rey’s head, “So you’re not  _ actually  _ my grandma, are you?”

 

Queen Organa shakes her head, a smirk tilting her lips. The look of betrayal on Rey’s face only causes her more laughter. Rey bursts, her eyes wide as she gestures with her hands, “Then why did you lie and say you were my grandmother? Why are you ruling Naboo, then, when your rightful place is in Tatooine?!”

 

The queen puts her hands out, palms up, in front of Rey to calm the younger woman down. She snickers still, the wrinkles at her eyes more prominent with her laughter, “Naboo was without a ruler because your father died before your twenty first birthday.” 

 

“So why tell me now and not then?” Rey asks, leaning in. Her eyes beg questions fueled with curiosity. She collapses her hands in her lap, “Why didn’t you all come get me when he died, train me up and then deposit me onto the throne?”

 

The older woman leans back in her chair, crossing her legs with a grace undefinable, “It was your father’s wish. He did not want you growing up like this. He wrote in his will that he wanted any other possible heir to take the throne.” 

 

A shiver runs down Queen Organa’s spine, “Unfortunately, there are none others fit to rule.” 

 

“Fit to rule,” Rey echoes, catching on to the cadence in her voice. “So there is another, then?”

 

“Not currently, no,” the queen replies, folding her hands across her knee. “It is only you, Rey.” 

 

Rey nods, licking her lips as she mulls over everything in her head. “I never knew my father,” she whispers, looking at the ring on her finger, “He didn’t love my mother. He left her. He left the both of us.” 

 

She looks to Queen Organa to be some sort of lighthouse, guiding the young girl to a shore she can’t quite find, “What was my grandfather’s name? My father’s name?”

 

The queen leans in further, her eyes shaded under the umbrella, “Your father’s name was Roman. Roman, King of Naboo, heir to the late king Ben Kenobi.”

 

-

 

“So,” Finn tilts a brow, “did you learn anything at Princess Academy yesterday?”

 

Rey smacks his arm, frustrated as she scoffs at her best friend. She sips her coffee, looking down at her notes on old literature she can’t bear to focus on. “I learned nothing important.” 

 

“C’mon, Rey,” Finn chides, grasping her elbow to take her attention. “Don’t be like this.” 

 

“We have a final in two weeks, Finn,” she tells him quickly, rolling her eyes as she tugs away from his grasp. “I don’t need to worry about the  _ Princess Academy _ right now, okay? I need to worry about Shakespeare and Dickinson and Poe.” 

 

“Speaking of Poe,” Finn chimes. His smile is wide and Rey knows exactly what he’s about to say. 

 

She cuts him off before his words topple from his lips, “No.”

 

“B-But Rey!” 

 

“ _ But Rey _ nothing, Finn. I’m not going to spend my night at one of Poe’s raging parties. It’s a waste of my time.” She taps her pencil against a particular part of  _ Telltale Heart _ , trying her hardest to keep focused on the lines. 

 

Finn sighs, “Fine. I’ll go by myself again. Maybe Phasma will be there and I can rub in the fact that I beat her at the match the other day.” 

 

“You should have been the long lost prince,” Rey comments, looking up from her book finally. “You at least can fence, and ride a horse.” 

 

He grins, “I could teach you. Like we always talked about.” 

 

“I’m sure Queen Organa would just love to see me bust my backside falling off of a stallion,” Rey fantasizes, waving her pencil nub around in the air. “She’d probably have my saddle tampered with just for the fun of it.” 

 

Finn rolls his eyes and opens his finance book back to where he was  _ supposed  _ to be twenty minutes ago. He touches the page to find the correct problem he should be studying, “I think you’re villifying someone who doesn’t deserve it, Rey. You should probably try to make her your ally or something. Start thinking strategically, royally.” 

 

“I never confirmed I’m going to Naboo,” she reminds him sternly, pointing her pencil eraser at him. 

 

He looks up at her with earnest eyes, “If you won’t go to Naboo, will you at least go to Poe’s?”

 

Rey groans, and Finn takes that as a yes. 

 

-

 

Immediately, when Rey shows up at Poe Dameron’s stupidly large house, she regrets it. 

 

“It smells even from outside,” she comments loudly, trying her hardest not to yell but still be heard. She grimaces, “You sure you don’t want me to just drop you off?”

 

Finn rolls his eyes and forcefully takes her by the elbow, “C’mon, you wimp. Let’s go!”

 

He pulls her inside and the music pulses in her temples, her heartbeat trying wildly to keep up to the new rhythm. She sighs, looking around to try and at least find someone else familiar. Before she can locate anyone, she’s pulled into a bone crushing hug, encompassed by a familiar sharp musk.

 

“Hey Poe,” she chimes into his ear, hardly able to squeeze him back before he’s moved on to hugging Finn. He laughs loudly, one of his hands sporting a drink that is close to sloshing over the side, “Hey guys! I’m so glad you could make it.” 

 

They exchange greetings and another hug before Rey feels a warm hand on her shoulder. She turns to see the smiling face of her collegue Rose Tico. Rey can’t help but to hug her, a bright smile lighting up her face. 

 

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Rey chuckles. “It’s so good to see you!” 

 

Rose giggles, resting her cheek on Rey’s bicep, “I’m sorry I missed study group last week. I had to work.” 

 

Rey shrugs and hugs her friend again. “It’s fine,” she reassures her, “you sent us your part in that e-mail, so we weren’t lacking without you there. Except that Armie wouldn’t shut up.” 

 

“Some people can’t be anything but miserable, bringing their misery to everyone else,” Rose says, standing straight again. She pulls on Rey’s elbow, “You want a drink? I think there’s something in there we’ll both like.” 

 

Rey follows her into the kitchen and they make themselves something easy to start, sitting at the marble bar and talking about their classes. Rose tells Rey all about her upper level courses that require a fifty page paper for the final along with a cumulative exam, and Rey spills her guts about the project she’s been agonizing over for at least three months trying to perfect. 

 

“At least you don’t have to go through a terrible TA who won’t relent,” Rose complains, downing the remainder of what’s in her cup. She sighs and pours the rest of the Sprite into her glass, sipping as if to regain her mental strength. “I swear, I’ve taken my paper to the writing lab seven times. In three weeks.” 

 

She deadpans, her hooded eyes blank as she stares up at Rey. “Between work and these courses, I’m basically a hermit.” 

 

“Is that why you’re here tonight?” Rey questions, filling her cup back up with Coca Cola. “Trying to forget?” 

 

“Trying to remember that there’s more to life than just pen and paper,” Rose combats, giggling again as she downs the remainder of her soda. Out of nowhere, Rey watches Rose’s eyebrows raise suggestively, her eyes searching the room, “Like  _ him _ .” 

 

Rey turns her head just enough to catch a glimpse of the figure across the room. The first thing she sees is a tall, broad figure with dark hair. She can’t force herself to look at him long enough to mark down his every feature. 

 

“He’s nice,” she shrugs, reaching for another container of alcohol. She has one thousand things on her mind, the last thing she needs to focus on is a guythat Rose already has her fingernails planned to sink into. “You should talk to him.” 

 

As Rey finishes her sentence, Rose’s expression sours. “Ugh,” she groans, tilting her head back dramatically, “never mind.” 

 

“What?” Rey questions, sipping from her cup. “What is it?” 

 

“He’s with the General.” Rose complains. She downs the contents in her cup swiftly after mentioning Armitage Hux’s nickname. “He must be a terrible person.”

 

“Or maybe it’s just coincidence,” Rey argues. She chuckles and turns, gesturing to Hux. “Armie, c’mere.” 

 

The redhead makes his way over to Rey rather eagerly, a grin on his pale lips, “Hello Rey, how are you?”

 

She’s thankful he doesn’t hug her, but that he merely clinks their plastic cups together before settling back against the guy Rose was eyeing earlier. “I’m doing all right,” she answers him, smiling and nodding her head, “how are you?” 

 

“Glad this semester is almost over with,” he answer her with a snort of a laugh. “I’ve gotten all of my papers done, but my group for management will not cooperate. They just can’t agree on-”

 

“You mean agree that you’re right?”

 

His voice is  _ deep _ , Rey thinks. She can’t help but be taken aback the first time he speaks. His voice is just as impressive as his presence. He’s a force to be reckoned with, just by a first glance. 

 

“No, no, that’s not what I mean at all and you know it,” Hux wrinkles his nose in disgust at his companion. “What I mean is-” 

 

“Aren’t we here so I don’t have to hear you complain about school again, Armitage?” the man speaks again, lifting his own red plastic cup to his lips. His eye roll is more than amusing, Rey thinks. She raises an eyebrow, “And who might you be?”

 

“Oh, this is my cousin,” Armitage introduces him. “He’s traveling through, I figured I’d bring him here so he wasn’t dreadfully bored.” 

 

“It’s not the type of party I’m used to,” the cousin’s nose wrinkles similarly to Hux’s, as if he can’t believe he’s put himself around mere mortals such as them, “but it’ll do.” 

 

Rey can’t help that her brows skyrocket, her mouth hanging open slightly in disbelief. It seems that he notices, because his large hand reaches out and by only his fingertips he shuts her jaw for her. 

 

“Be careful, you’ll catch flies.” 

 

Rey resists the urge to smack him. 

 

Instead, she grits her teeth and asks him for his name again.

 

“Oh, my apologies,” he places his hand on his pectoral as if he’s posing for a portrait, “my name is Kylo.” 

 

She swears he winks at her, his hand brushed through his hair as he repeats himself, “Kylo Ren.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is a horrible public speaker. She might also have been the worst princess-to-be that Leia could have asked for.

Rey can’t help the crease between her brow as she studies him closely, “Have we met before?”

 

Kylo shakes his head and she watches as the tresses touch his shoulders, “No, I don’t believe we have.”

 

“Huh,” she muses, tilting her head as if that will jog her memory, “well, it’s a pleasure to meet you then.”

 

She hopes that the words don’t come forth from her lips dripping in honeyed sarcasm. He seems to notice, though, but instead of becoming angry, Kylo simply smirks. He holds out his hand, “The pleasure is all mine.”

 

Rey squeezes his palm as they shake hands, maybe a little more forceful than necessary. She’s jerked away from him by a hand on her shoulder, “Rey, you’ve got to come see this!”

 

“Finn?” she finds herself still hanging on to Kylo’s hand rather awkwardly. She forces a smile and then releases his hand to turn to her friend, “What are you rattling on about?”

 

“Paige is table dancing,” he gapes, looking at Rey with wide eyes.

 

Rose smacks his arm, “You’re letting my sister do what?!”

 

His face goes slack and his mouth bobs somewhere between open and closed. Rose pinches him before rushing out into the biggest room in the house where her sister is currently on Poe’s large wooden dining table.

 

“Paige!” she shouts. Rey can hear her from the kitchen.

 

Armitage snorts, looking down at his shoes, “Some people can be so uncivilized.”

 

“If I do remember,” Kylo cuts in, sending his cousin a direct glare, with a hint of mischief in his tone, “you were once caught high running around the stables talking to your horse about how you wanted to rule the galaxy.”

 

Immediately, Hux’s face sours and he grabs Kylo by his jacket sleeve and yanks him down to seethe in his ear, “You promised you’d never tell anyone about that!”

 

Rey can’t help but snort at the two of them, putting the back of her hand to her mouth to attempt at hiding the sound. She nods, “Well, it was nice seeing you Armie, and nice meeting you, Armie’s cousin. I’ll see you around campus.”

 

She walks away to the living room with one last wave in their direction. She shakes her head, still confused as to where she’s seen _Kylo Ren_ before.

 

xx

 

Rey is used to being ignored.

 

In fact, she _likes it_.

 

Which is probably why she hates debate class.

 

“C’mon,” Finn encourages, “you’ve got a great topic, which you know a ton about, and you can totally school this guy.”

 

“This is _Poe_ we’re talking about, Finn,” Rey argues, narrowing her eyes at him as they walk toward the auditorium. “We’re friends, but he still is popular and everyone is going to vote for him because he can speak English and Spanish in full sentences. I can’t even string together a few sentences in front of everybody in there.”

 

“You’ll do fine,” he tells her. She almost believes him just on the sole fact that his eyes are earnest and if Finn believes in you, there’s definitely something special about you. Rey sighs in defeat, “Fine. But I won’t like it. And I’m probably going to throw up.”

 

“I’ll be standing outside with a trash can in case you do,” he tells her, pressing a warm palm to her arm. He opens the doors for her, “Now, you’re going to do great!”

 

Rey sits down in the front row, her stomach already a churning mess as she watches Poe straighten his jeans and take his place at the podium. She wishes she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast, her hand pressed to her belly to try and calm it.

 

“Well, first of all,” Poe gestures to his fellow classmates in the crowd, “I notice that there are a multitude of you that have your phones in your pockets. Ladies, probably in your purses. The whole point of this topic is to make the older generation feel like they’re doing some service to us because they read newspapers to distract themselves from having to interact with one another instead of a cell phone.”

 

He looks down at Rey and smiles. She would feel the warmth from it, but instead it just makes her nausea spike. Poe isn’t trying to be undermining or rude to her. He’s just trying to get a grade in Debate.

 

“So anyways, I agree that cell phones and laptops and any other electronic device should be allowed as a tool in the classroom,” he says to the audience, his heartwarming grin absolutely stealing the crowd over. Rey sighs, slumping down in her seat.

 

“If someone doesn’t want to pay attention, they’re going to do it whether or not they have something electronic in their hands,” he continues, using his hands to talk. Rey wonders how on earth he learned to communicate so clearly, so emotionally. “It would be us doodling on a piece of paper or playing with our calculator. Are you going to ban those too?”

 

He smirks, tilting his dark brow, “Someone doodling a sketch on their paper is just as distracting as someone watching a dancing cat video. I don’t think we should punish all students for those who choose not to pay attention.”

 

The whole room uproars in applause, and Rey feels like she’s going to throw up right then and there.

 

“All right, Mister Dameron,” Ms. Holdo sighs, brushing her curly hair back behind her ear. “Now that we’ve heard the affirmative side of this debate, we will be hearing the negative side from Miss Rey Christensen.”

 

It’s as if Rey cannot function once her name is called. She forces herself to climb the six stairs to the podium, her index cards clutched in her hands. She’s afraid she’s wrinkled them beyond recognition, but she’s had the speech memorized since Tuesday anyway.

 

“Hi fellow students,” she tries her hardest not to stutter over her words. She sees Armitage in the back, and she isn’t sure why she expected Kylo to be seated next to him.

 

Rey shakes her head and Ms. Holdo coughs to bring Rey back down to earth.

 

“Well, my, um, my rebuttal is not exactly, er, one hundred percent against Poe’s affirmation on the, um, the topic at hand,” she manages. Rey is actually pretty proud of herself, considering that’s almost a full sentence. She swallows the thick lump in her throat and continues.

 

“I do agree that us, you, um, students, should be allowed to own and use electronic devices in the classroom,” she has begun to stumble and the tumultuous turbulence in her stomach is making a comeback. She sighs, hoping that if she stares at the exit sign in the back instead of everyone’s faces, maybe she can finish this out.

 

“A-And so, I believe that we should keep the, um, the policy for electronics-”  
 

A booing sound is made from the crowd and Rey can’t help but flinch. She hears Phasma in the first row mutter, “What are those things on the back of her head? Is that supposed to be her hair?” She and the girl sitting next to her snicker, looking directly at Rey while they talk.

 

“Um,” Rey swallows again, but now she can feel perspiration on her forehead and neck. “I-I think we should add some restrictions, um, in order to, uh, _limit_ the usage-”

 

“I take notes on my laptop!” a shout comes from the back of the room.

 

Rey can’t help the tears that well up in her eyelids but she wills them not to fall. She tilts her head back slightly, “I-uh, well, I think we should keep the policy but, um, make sure that students using laptops sit in the back of the-”

 

“Boring!”

 

“Is she about to hurl?”

 

Rey catapults herself off of the front of the stage, leaving her memo cards behind as she runs out the back door. Finn shifts the garbage can in her direction and tilts his head back as she upchucks into the bin.

 

“I thought it was a good argument,” he says in his same old reaffirming voice.

 

She looks up at him, about to respond, but hurls the contents of her stomach into the trash can instead.

 

xx

 

“Your grandmother called,” Rey’s mother calls from the other room.

 

“Cool,” Rey responds, “But I need a break from _people_ , so I won’t be going.”

 

“So that’s why you’re here,” her mother, holding a husky puppy in her arms raises a challenging brow. Rey sighs, sitting down in one of the hard, plastic chairs, “Yes. Because I cannot cope with other human beings.”

 

Her mother nods, her dark hair falling around her shoulders. She sighs and looks at her daughter, “Well, you’re more than welcome to go wherever you want in the store, you know that.”

 

Rey looks up at her mom and wonders for a moment how she raised an anxious daughter in this world with people who are constantly snapping their jaws at any chance to gnaw away her remaining self-confidence. There are wrinkles by her green eyes, aging her. Her full lips and pink cheeks allow her not to wear makeup and still be beautiful. Rey smiles at her mother and wonders if she’ll ever amount to half the woman that she is.

 

“I love you, mom,” she tells her, standing up to hug her mother.

 

“I love you too, peanut.” Her mother kisses her temple, making sure not to drop the puppy in her arms, “Now go show those kittens whose boss.”

 

Rey laughs and walks out of the training room towards the grooming stations. She greets Martha, known around the clinic as ‘Maz’, who is currently grooming a poodle.

 

“I don’t know how you do it,” Rey chuckles, petting the dog on the head, “they’re so curly headed and fluffy. I couldn’t stand all of that hair.”

 

“I wish I had that much hair!” Maz retorts, feeding the poodle a treat. Rey chuckles and curls up on the couch, looking around the room, “Who is your next victim?”

 

“Don’t you mean client?” Maz grins, looking over her shoulder. It’s a miracle she can see through the thick glasses that are rested on her nose. She’s dark skinned, Rey heard her talking about her heritage once and how she can walk outside and she darkens two shades. Her eyes are bright and wide thanks to her glasses, but Rey swears they’re that large anyways. She’s a short woman, coming to Rey’s hips so she has to use a step stool to be able to groom even the shortest dogs.

 

“Whichever way you like to put it,” Rey responds, tucking her feet underneath herself. “Can I go ahead and get them for you?”

 

Maz nods and that’s all it takes for Rey to shoot off towards the kennels, finding the next scheduled dog. He’s an all black German Shepherd with deep emerald eyes looking her over as she unlocks his kennel. She grins and takes him by a leash, leading him towards the grooming area.

 

“Aren’t you a cutie?” Rey asks, cooing as she scratches him behind the ears and under the chin. “You look like someone I can talk to.”

 

The dog turns his head and it’s almost as if he can understand her, “Well, let me tell you about my life recently.”

 

Rey goes on to tell the shepherd how she found out she was a princess and how scary that has been. He lays his head in her lap as she continues on, his eyes never wavering from her face. His ears lift when she gets to certain points in her story. When Rey tells him about her debate debacle, he whines and croons. She’s not sure if he’s matching her tone with his barks, but it’s comforting nonetheless.

 

Maz touches Rey’s shoulder, and she didn’t realize that the older woman had already taken the groomed poodle back to their kennel to await their owner.

 

“Dogs are better than people,” Rey grumbles, helping Maz get the German shepherd up onto the grooming station and into the holsters. She sighs, “Thanks for letting me talk to you, buddy.”

 

Rey scratches behind his ears again and he bends his head down to touch Rey’s forehead with his own. She can’t help the beaming smile on her face, “Thanks. I think I’m going to need the encouragement. Gotta go see the estranged grandmother-who-isn’t-really-my-grandmother for tea.”

 

He barks loudly and Maz can’t help but join in on the laughter, “I think that meant good luck.”

 

xx

 

“Hey Leia,” Rey looks up from her delicate salad on a too-small plate on the table, “is it normal for you to restrain your guests with fancy scarves, or am I special?”

 

The Queen chuckles, looking up from her magazine, “Oh, darling, the whole point of the scarf around your chest is to keep your posture correct. It’s not to restrain you.”

 

Rey rolls her eyes and tries her hardest to grab the salt shaker whilst being held captive against the chair by aforementioned scarf. She grunts, kicking her feet under the table as she strikes out in frustration.

 

“Don’t make me have Han restrain your ankles too.”

 

Rey looks up at the Queen, who she _swears_ is smiling. She grunts, leaning her head against the back of the chair, “This is ridiculous. I should be able to grab the salt however I want.”

 

“That’s not how this works,” Leia chuckles, turning the page of her magazine without glancing again to the future ruler. “You have to learn how to sit straight. Your posture at our first meeting was... _less_ than desirable.”

 

Rey rolls her eyes and finally grasps the salt shaker with her fingertips. She sighs and shakes some onto her plate, wondering if it’s even worth it to eat at this point. As she spoons some of the soup into her mouth, she looks around the dining room.

 

It’s bigger and much more grandiose than any dining room Rey could have ever dreamed up. She swears the ceiling is etched with _real gold_ , and there’s porcelain trinkets littering the shelves that beg Rey to ask where they came from.

 

She notices a few pictures on a certain side table, and one figure strikes her as familiar.

 

“Hey, Leia,” Rey asks slowly, letting her fork clatter to the plate.

 

The sound alone makes Queen Organa’s head snap up. She’s about to reprimand Rey when she notices where the young girl’s line of sight is. She sighs and places her magazine down on the table, a certain melancholic look coming over her features.

 

“That’s Han,” she tells the girl, “my security. You haven’t met him yet.”

 

“No, no,” Rey is fixated on another photo. A man in a uniform, decorated with medals on his left pectoral. She tilts her head, and if she weren’t tied to the chair she’d stand and take the photo in her hands to study it better.

 

“Ah,” Leia nods, swallowing thickly. Rey tries to ignore the emotion heavy in Leia’s voice that brings forth tears in the Queen’s eyes. “That is my son, Ben. He’s been away for some time now.”

 

“Oh.”

  
_Well,_ Rey thinks _, he’s back._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is basically being held hostage. At least that's how she sees it.

Rey rolls over in bed, her diary in her hands as she reads back over the passage she wrote when Queen Organa made her first appearance into her life.

 

_Dear Diary,_

 

_So, found out I’m a PRINCESS. Yeah. You heard it first, right here. A princess._

 

_I enjoy my life as a nothing- an invisible nothing. I don’t need a shiny tiara attracting everyone’s attention to me._

 

_I can’t-_

 

Rey hears her mother’s voice from downstairs, as if she were talking to someone.

 

“I know, Leia, but I can’t- I _know_. I am her mother, after all.”

 

Rey can’t help her own curiosity as she kneels by the door, peering out of it through a small slit. She keeps herself quiet, preying on the conversation.

 

“She’s turning twenty-one next weekend, you can’t expect her to uproot her life and walk away from everything she knows,” her mother argues, and Rey watches as she paces the kitchen. A small smile tugs on the corners of her mouth as she hears her mother fight for her.

 

“I know that the ball is in a few months, Leia. I’m not arguing that the timing isn’t exactly perfect, what with Ben and everything…” her mother trails off, stopping and leaning against the counter. She sighs again, tilting her head back as she responds, “Rey has to make her own decision. I know she’d make a great ruler someday but this is a lot of responsibility in a short amount of time and she has to decide if she’s ready or not.”

 

Her mother rubs the creases in her forehead as she listens to Queen Organa on the other end of the line.

 

“I know, Leia,” her voice is softer, quieter now. “No matter what happened, I loved him, I truly did. I know what Obi did for your family, and I know that his granddaughter ruling would be the best thing for Naboo, but…I just _can’t_ force this onto Rey.”

 

She watches her mother nod, “I know. I’ll do what I can.”

 

Rey closes her door back and leans her head against it, closing her eyes as she tilts her head. A small tear slips out of the corner of her lid, a gasping sob shaking her shoulders.

 

“Princess of Naboo,” she says wryly, rolling her lips together. “More like Puppet on a String.”

 

xx

 

“I guess you thought getting me out in public was going to keep me civil, hmm?” Rey asks, taking a sip from her drink. She sits back in the booth seat, the meal in front of her tasting like sand.

 

She _hates_ sand.

 

“I was trying to put you in an environment you felt comfortable in,” Leia speaks, gingerly taking her fork and knife between her dainty fingers. “Not trying to cage you like an animal. But thank you for the confidence.”

 

Rey stuffs a bite of pasta into her mouth to keep herself from biting her tongue.

 

Leia shifts in her seat and cuts off a bite of chicken, taking a moment to eat before continuing the conversation, “Rey, I don’t like the idea of taking you away from your home either, honey. I know what it’s like to have everything stripped from you.”

 

Rey watches the older woman’s eyes wrinkle at the sides as she seems to go through a flashback in a matter of seconds. Her heart softens at the sight, and she thinks maybe she has spent too long judging Queen Organa, and not enough time listening to her.

 

“But anyway,” she waves her pinky finger in the air and forces a smile, “we will be having our Naboo Formal Ball in a few months. It would be my pleasure to present your decision to join the royal line on that occasion.”

 

Rey swallows thickly, chewing on her lower lip. She looks down at her plate and Queen Organa leans in closer, “However, you _desperately_ need some instruction.”

 

“I- _What_?!” Rey spats, very close to spitting her drink on the Queen.

 

Leia chuckles, wiping her mouth with her napkin, “I am telling you now, under oath, that I speak for myself and the entire Naboo parliament when I say you need some instruction.”

 

Sliding down in her seat, Rey rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. She huffs, “Maybe if you’d all been up front with me twenty years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now and I’d not need any _instructions_.”

 

Rey’s mother sits forward, “Rey, I think you’re overreac--”

 

“Do _not_ tell me that I am overreacting. Why don’t you put yourself in my position, hmm? You were the only family I had until Finn came along, and then this lady shows up and tells me that you’ve been _lying to me_ for twenty years and counting?! Families don’t do stuff like that, okay?”

 

“Rey,” Leia tries to intervene.

  
The twenty-year old puts her hand up in the air, stalling the Royal Highness. Leia looks shocked, but Rey could care less.

 

“Most kids just want to go get drunk on their twenty first birthday,” Rey argues, her hands out in front of her as she gestures wildly, “they don’t ask for a castle, or a tiara, or a governing body!”

 

“How about this,” Rey’s mother holds her hands up to meet her daughter, lacing their fingers together. “You attend princess lessons until Leia’s ball.”

 

“Well, it isn’t _my_ ball, per say,” Leia interjects.

 

“Whatever,” she retorts, focusing back on her daughter, “Rey will not give her final decision until one week before the ball.”

 

She looks between the Queen and her daughter, raising her eyebrows, “Can you both live with that?”

 

Rey wraps her arms further around her body, sucking her lower lip into the bite of her teeth. She grunts, “I guess.”

 

“Well, I’m at your mercy, so,” Leia stands, folding her napkin over the top of her plate. “It sounds like a fine idea to me. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, Rey?”

 

Rey forces herself to sit up in her seat again, giving her full attention to the one person in the room who seems to demand it without actually asking for it. She nods, trying to make it seem a little less forced than it really is, “Yes, you will.”

 

xx

 

“My back hurts,” Rey whines, laying her head on the mahogany table. She groans, squeezing her eyes shut as she kicks her feet. She swears she’s a grown woman, _really_.

 

“Can you imagine how mine feels?” Leia remarks, rubbing the lower part of her spine. She sighs, “Posture is a representation of yourself, Rey. If you slump, like this,” Leia demonstrates by slouching her shoulders forward dramatically, “then people will think of you as self-depreciating. As if you loathe your very existence.”

 

“And how do you know that’s not how I wish to be perceived?” Rey responds, cocking a brow.

 

Leia chuckles, raising her hand to cover her mouth, “Next is your nails. I can see the chips in your paint from here. I already have a manicure and pedicure session booked for you tomorrow in the spa.”

 

“The spa?” Rey’s brow doesn’t lower as she looks at the older woman incredulously. “This place has a spa?”

 

Leia’s forehead crinkles as she laughs, “Yes, Rey, it does. I’m in desperate need of one as well, so I will be joining you and we can discuss more while we’re there.”

 

“Perfect,” Rey groans, slumping in her seat. “So now I can’t even enjoy someone digging into my toenails in peace.”


End file.
